Lamar sports information

HOUSTON – Houston Baptist was held to just three points offensively as Lamar traveled to Houston Baptist and picked up a thrilling 23-16 victory Saturday afternoon at Husky Stadium.

The victory snaps a seven-game skid for the Cardinals, and serves as the first Southland Conference victory for first-year head coach Mike Schultz.

“It’s great to get a win,” said LU head coach Mike Schultz. “The kids kept playing hard. It’s just one win but it’s a great win for our kids at this time of year. This is something that we can build on moving forward. I’m just really excited for the kids. They’ve worked hard all year long and it was good for them to get a win. We have to stay the course, stick with the process and eventually we will get this turned around.”

HBU (1-9, 0-8 Southland) ran into a stingy Cardinals defense that didn’t allow the home team much freedom on their Senior Day. Thirteen of the Huskies’ 16 points came in the first half and those two scores were both the results of LU turnovers.

The Cardinals (2-8, 1-7) outgained their hosts, 460-187, and overcame 11 penalties for 85 yards, to record the win. Big Red finished the day with 267 yards on the ground led by a career effort from freshman running back Myles Wanza. The Houston native carried the ball 26 times for 143 yards and a touchdown.

“We kept shooting ourselves in the foot in the first half,” said Schultz. “I think we had nearly 300 yards of offense in the first half and weren’t able to score many points. We came out in the second half and stopped making those mistakes. We kept taking some shots down the field and they didn’t work out but we felt like if we kept attacking eventually we would hit one and we finally did.”

Senior Blake McKenzie completed 12 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown. He also carried the ball 12 times for 42 yards.

The Cards’ inspired defensive effort was led by senior Jaylon Bowden who recorded a team-high nine tackles, including one for a loss. Classmate Manasseh Miles added seven stops. Seven different Cardinals recorded a tackle for a loss on the day.

Junior Davon Jernigan played one of the better games of his career finishing with four tackles, an interception and a key pass break up on third and long to prevent a first down late in the game.

The opening half was 30 minutes of missed opportunities for the Cardinals. LU dominated the half holding the ball more than 6 minutes longer than Houston Baptist and outgained the Huskies by more than 200 yards (306-88).

Big Red’s opening drive was the perfect description of the first 30 minutes of play. Behind the direction of McKenzie, the Cardinals moved the ball deep into HBU territory before a McKenzie pass ricocheted off the hands of a receiver and was picked off by Raphael Lewis and returned 96 yards for the score.

The Huskies’ second score also came off an LU turnover. After the Cardinals’ defense forced HBU to punt the ball away, senior Rodney Randle had the ball slip through his hands and it was recovered by the Huskies. HBU made Big Red pay for the mistake on the very next play with a halfback pass for the score.

Randle made amends on the ensuing point after try. Following a block by Dedrick Gardner, Randle scooped up the loose ball and returned it the length of field to cut the HBU lead to 13-2.

The Cardinals appeared to put their first touchdown on the board late in the quarter when junior Nate Jones fielded a punt on the 8-yard line and returned it 92 yards for the score, but the return was negated by a penalty.

The defenses took over for the rest of the half as neither team was able to dent the scoreboard until 40 seconds remaining in the half, but the drive didn’t start well for the Cardinals. HBU punter Christian Guzman pinned the Cardinals down inside the one yard line following a 39-yard punt. McKenzie took the ball and guided the Cardinals on a 9-play, 99-yard drive that ended with a 4-yard run from freshman Wanza. The drive was kept alive on a third down completion from the LU four-yard line.

The third quarter remained a defensive struggle as the only points came off the leg of kicker Alec Chadwick. The HBU kicker booted a 58-yard field goal – the longest at the FCS level this season – to extend the Huskies lead to seven, 16-9.

The Cardinals finally pulled even in the game with another big play from special teams. The Huskies were forced to punt in their own territory but junior Brandon Dabney broke through the line to block the punt which was picked up by Beaumont’s Desmond Veals in the end zone. The special teams TD tied the game at 16.

The score remained tied until 6:11 remaining when McKenzie hit Isaiah Howard over the middle with 35-yard touchdown pass. The drive started with a 32-yard run from Wanza to put the Cardinals in HBU territory. Two plays later the Cardinals found pay dirt.

The ensuing HBU drive started positively for the Cardinals. Big Red dropped the HBU signal caller for a six-yard loss but he scrambled for 16 yards on the following play, and HBU moved into Cardinal territory following a pass interference call against the Cards. HBU moved the ball down to the LU 34 but the drive stalled out as the Huskies came up empty on two pass plays and turned the ball over on downs. The Cardinals were able to kill off the clock on the ensuing possession to preserve the victory.

The Red and White close out the 2017 regular season next Saturday when they return home to host McNeese State in the annual Battle of the Border. The game against the Cowboys will kick off at 7 p.m. at Provost Umphrey Stadium and serve as Senior Night.